Mara O’Keeffe

I designed this project to examine whether the American Physical Therapy Association's increased education requirements have translated into measurably better outcomes among doctoral-level providers. Using Medicare billing and reimbursement data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, I compared provider performance across degree levels and analyzed emergency department visit rates for back and neck pain as an outcome measure.

Findings from this analysis have real-world implications for the need for changes to schooling costs, reimbursement rates, expanded prescription of physical therapy as a low-cost alternative to high-acuity treatment, and reducing unnecessary emergency department visits.